Thousands of demonstrators besieged government buildings in Kiev Tuesday, rallying against President Viktor Yanukovich's decision to abandon a long-awaited deal for closer ties with the EU.

A group of protesters tried to storm Yanukovich's office and police chased protesters away with tear-gas and truncheons, injuring dozens. The blockade is severely disrupting the process of government here," said a reporter for Al Jazeera in Kiev. "Essentially, President Yanukovich has lost control of the center of Kiev." The Guardian reported that police had deserted the center of the city, while thousands of people blocked entrances to government buildings and gathered again on Independence Square.

At least three politicians from the governing Party of Regions have quit in protest and one of them, Inna Bohoslovska, previously a vocal government supporter, called on other legislators to leave the party. A top Agriculture Ministry official also resigned on Monday.

The opposition hopes to topple the cabinet of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov during a confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday. It would need 226 votes in the 450-seat Rada, but presently controls about 170 seats.

Yanukovych reached out to the European Union on Monday requesting new talks, but the EU told him that the sweeping trade deal he refused to sign last week after six years of talks wasn't open for renegotiationand warned him against using force to disperse the crowds in Kiev's main square.

The Ukraine is in a Polish type position between two powers. They can have a beneficial trade agreement with the EU without being part of the EU. But they have indeed caved on internal issues like the death penalty just to please the West.

The problem is that the top opposition leader is in prison from trumped-up charges (Yulia Timoshenko) while the Prez deserves to be in prison (Victor Yanukovich) for genuine corruption. Long ago he was in prison for rape and theft.

11
posted on 12/02/2013 11:29:32 PM PST
by Monterrosa-24
((...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47))

Well, Putin’s positively Machiavellian— and IMO a crueler master/less desirable than the soft tyranny of a meddlesome European bureaucracy— and lately feeling his oats that his only foil has receded from the world stage.

17
posted on 12/02/2013 11:55:32 PM PST
by Dysart
(Obamacare: "We are losing money on every subscriber-- but we will make it up in volume!")

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

27
posted on 12/03/2013 3:32:42 AM PST
by Son House
(Democrats want you to use 'Great Recession' instead of 'Jobless Recovery', recession ended June 2009)

When Russia invaded Georgia Bush sent warships into the Baltic and launched a resupply airlift. Had Putin responded militarily he could have set off a war with NATO that could have escalated into a nuclear exchange. Since that time the Russian strategy to retake the wayward republics has been limited to economic and political subversion. But if these protests spiral Putin may feel the only alternative is force.

29
posted on 12/03/2013 3:38:56 AM PST
by Brad from Tennessee
(A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)

Yushenko. Yes the Russians had something to do with that. Yanukovit h is a convicted criminal and a Russian toady. He is not respected by the people and does not even speak Ukrainian well He also refuses to let Yulia Timoshenko out of jail for pitical reasons. Ukraine is growing and changing

This is going to get very interesting

30
posted on 12/03/2013 3:40:14 AM PST
by Jimmy Valentine
(DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)

Analogy: Ted Cruz is elected President and Republicans take control of Congress in 2016. In 2108, hundreds of thousands of Rat parasites surround federal buildings in Washington, D.C. and demand Cruz’s resignation.

It’s either closer ties with Brussels, or being tied to their old boss Russia. Brussels is full of micro-managing bureaucrats, sure. But they’re less likely to move in and take over and kill a lot of people in the process.

Ever since Bogdan Chmelnicki’s marauding cossacks destroyed the consolidated Polish/Lithuanian state, everyone in Eastern Europe has been subjugated to Russia, the only other big fish in the tank. Poland is now independent, as is Lithuania and the rest of the Baltic states. I can sympathize with the Ukrain’s desire to remain so as well. But there still is one big fish in the tank. EU has its faults, but it’s outside the tank. When you’re a little fish, the guy outside with the net and the little bowl of water might be preferable to the big fish.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.